Following Harry
by JadedBlackLove
Summary: James, Lily and company follow Harry's story by reading a few books that appear 10 or so years after their death.
1. Death Comes Softly

Okay so I have been writing this when I have been experiencing writers block and thought I would share it with you. I know that theses are very cliched but I enjoy reading them all the same. Please let me know what you think. I don't own it and am simply using it to fuel my creativity.

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A flash of green light and then….nothing. No physical pain accompanied his death only intense emotional pain followed this ridiculous turn of events. His sweet beautiful Lily left to care for their son alone. That was only with the hope that she had escaped with their son. James hoped beyond any hope that Lily and Harry had escaped Voldemort's clutches and were safely hidden somewhere. He lay there for a while trying to get his bearings. It felt as if he were lying on very soft grass. Trying to ignore the pain in his chest from knowing he would not see Harry or Lily for hopefully a long time he opened his eyes and glanced around. He was in a grassy field and to his left he could see the lights of a town in the distance. Looking to his right his heart clutched in fear and sadness lying on the ground beside him was his beautiful fiery red-headed wife.

"Lily?" James whispered quietly, silently praying that this wasn't her.

"James" she replied softly tears running silently down her face looking as heart-broken as he felt.

"Harry?" he asked quietly needing to know that his son had been saved. She shook her head slowly and the pain in his heart intensified.

"I didn't get out James, I tried but I didn't have my wand. I am so sorry I failed you and our son!" Sobbed Lily and James pulled her into his arms.

"No Lily, you did beautifully" breathed James, "You did nothing wrong I promise you haven't failed either of us."

"James?" a deep male voice called from behind James.

"Lily?" a sweet feminine voice called from the same direction.

"No it can't be Jamesie –

and Lilykins. They were—

completely invincible. Ow!" two male voices said together followed by a loud thump.

"Shut it you two! Lily?" A tearful voice whispered.

James chuckled softly into Lily's hair and he felt Lily smile against him. They weren't exactly happy but at the sound of those familiar voices they couldn't help but smile. Rising together they turned to face the five people who joined them.

Short and sweet Dorcas Meadowes with her curly blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes is smiling somewhat sadly at Lily and James. She is grasping the boy next to her hand tightly. Benjy Fenwick, with his light brown hair and dark eyes, stands next to Dorcas holding her hand just as tightly and gazing sadly at his two friends who have joined him prematurely. Slightly to the left of them stand Gideon and Fabian Prewitt. Smirking with their laughing blue eyes and shining red hair, they are identical down to the last freckle on their noses. They look so much like the twin sons of their sister that they will never meet it. Marlene Mckinnon is the final person of the group; a tall blonde woman with shimmering grey-green eyes with mixed emotions.

Marlene and Lily are the first two to move step forward and wrapping their arms around each other and clinging tightly as they begin to cry. Dorcas joins the group and the three women sink to the ground crying. Slowly as the pain diminishes, the girls stop their tears and stand. Marlene and Dorcas pull James into a tight hug and try to hold back their tears. Lily is surrounded by the boys in and odd sort of huddle/hug.

"Lils now is the perfect opportunity—

for you to choose the better—

pranksters for your husband—

you can leave James and –

run off into the sunset—

with the handsome—

cunning—

stunning—

witty –

charming—

intelligent—

redheaded—

twins!" Gideon and Fabian finish together. Benjy stands to the side laughing at the crazy twins' antics. Lily lets out a shriek as the twins lift her up on their shoulders and take off together towards the town.

"Hey! Bring back my wife!" James exclaims running after them. Benjy and Dorcas are laughing and holding each other up while they follow the odd party.

"Gideon! Fabian! You put her down! Don't make me remind you why you have feared me for the past year and a half!" Marlene yells trying to remain stern but failing as a smile twitches at her lips. The twins don't let anyone remain sad for long.

"You can have her back—

when we get to the house—

then we can all catch up—

until then she is—

our captive and you—

will never see her again if—

you don't hurry up!" The twins together yelled picking up the pace as James got closer. Lily was giggling madly from the absurdity of what was happening. When James caught up Lily stretched her hand out to him and he pulled her into his arms. The momentum caused the twins to fall backwards into James and Lily. The four of them fell to the ground in a pile. Benjy, Dorcas, and Marlene finally caught up with them and stood around the tangled pile laughing. Lily, James, Gideon, and Fabian glared at the laughing trio. The all shared a look and with a simple nod from James the four of them reached out and grabbed and arm. Gideon and Fabian each grabbed an arm of Benjy's and tugged pulling him into the pile. Lily grabbed Marlene and she received the same treatment as Benjy. James drug Dorcas into the pile with the others and the whole tangled mess began to laugh uncontrollably. By slow degrees the group began to sober and untangle themselves.

"Alright let's go to the house." Marlene said smiling

"House? Whose house?" Lily asked

"Gideon, Fabian and Marlene live together. We could go to our house but it is kinda small and it doesn't have the abundance of food and drink that the cave has." Benjy said pulling Dorcas to him.

"Cave?" James asked

"That is what we call the house." Gideon replied.

"Why do the three of you live together?" Lily asked

"None of us are together if that is what your puzzled expression is for." Fabian chuckled.

"Explain." Lily stated.

"We will Lils when we get there." Marlene replied.

"Okay." She pouted. James pulled her close and kissed her forehead lovingly.

"Ew! I thought you two were over—

these gross, cute—

revolting, adorable—

displays of affection." Gideon, Fabian, and Marlene finished together smiling.

"Stuff it! I remember what you were like around Emmeline, Gideon." James said smugly

"I think Fabian might have been worse around Hestia." Lily said laughing at the twins expressions.

"And we have all seen how cute—

gross—

adorable—

revolting—

sweet—

Sirius was with you Marlene!" James, Lily, Benjy, and Dorcas all said together bursting into laughter.

When the laughter finally subsided they were standing in front of a modest two story house. Quaffles and beaters bats littered the front yard. A small shed stood off to the side and from the window brooms and shaking crates could be seen. Looking around the corner of the house you could see a large field with six tall quidditch goal posts.

"Don't worry James; we will let you play after we all get caught up." Marlene said rolling her eyes at her former quidditch captain.

The group trouped through the bright red door to find themselves in a room that greatly resembled the Gryffindor common room. Four large, red, squishy arm chairs sat on either side of a mahogany coffee table and a long red couch sat just behind it facing a large unlit fireplace. On either side of the fire place were two tall windows that looked out into the yard.

"I have a feeling that Benjy did not decorate this room." James said smirking.

"Actually the first time we decorated he did." Marlene said chuckling at James's incredulous face. "There was a little more blue accents but for the most part it looks the same."

"Why don't we all sit down and we can explain." Dorcas said serenely. James sat in one of the armchairs with Lily snuggled in his lap. Benjy and Dorcas mirrored them in the chair opposite. Gideon and Fabian sat on either side of Marlene on the couch.

"This place is pretty much just like home. You can have a job if you want, and we will go tomorrow to get your wands back. One of the differences is that everyone is given a home. The home reflects the person who will be living in it. If you come without your significant other the house will still reflect both of you who will eventually be living there." Benjy explained before Lily and James could ask.

"Gideon, Fabian and I all have our own house, but it reflects how it would look if Sirius, Emmeline, and Hestia were here with us. The three of us decided that we couldn't live in those houses it was too painful. We went and talked to some people and long story short we got this place to live in until they join us. Benjy lived with us until Dorcas got here." Marlene continued.

"Your house may be hard to live in at first because you left a child behind." Dorcas said softly, "Since he was not of age his room will continue to grow and change as if he was there with you. When he becomes of age you will be able to do whatever you want with the room."

"Other than that, everything is pretty much the same—

the two of you are more than welcome—

to stay here." Gideon and Fabian said together.

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Ten years had passed since the day that James and Lily died. It wasn't easy for them they heard bits and pieces from everyone about how Harry was the savior of the Wizarding World. How he had disappeared and no one knew where he went. The only information they had on him was that he was alive. No one would give them any information on their other friends. It was difficult to not know anything that was going on with their friends and family that were still alive.

James, Lily, Marlene, and the twins still lived in The Cave. They all found it too hard to go to their individual houses. While Benjy and Dorcas lived in their own house they were frequent visitors.

It was late summer and Dorcas and Lily were in the kitchen cooking lunch, while Benjy, Gideon, Fabian, Marlene, and James where playing a kind of modified quidditch. The girls were chatting happily when they heard a loud pop and a muffled thump in the living room. Glancing at each other they pulled out their wands a carefully made their way into the room. Lying on the coffee table was a book. Glancing at each other and lowering their wands they made their way to the table to see what kind of book it was. There was a note stuck to the top of it. Glancing at each other warily again, Lily picked the note up and decided to read it before reading the title of the book.

_Dear James and Lily Potter, _

_This book is a documentation of your son's first year at Hogwarts. It is unfair that you had to leave him behind so the least we could was make sure you got to learn about him. You may have been wondering why you couldn't get any information these past few years. There was a spell cast that kept you from learning anything about your friends here. I am sorry for any pain this has caused you but we felt that you should learn about it along with your son. You will receive a book for each of his years at Hogwarts. Our apologies for you having to learn about him this way, but we cannot change the past. You may read these stories with whoever you wish. _

_Sincerely, _

_TRL, JSP, ASP, LLP_

Lily sank down onto the couch and held the note out to Dorcas and stared dumbly at the book.

"Lils, Lils, come on let's go finish lunch. We can eat then tell the others and start reading okay." Dorcas said coaxingly after she had finished reading.

Lily stood and numbly helped Dorcas finish lunch. When she heard Dorcas calling for the others she returned more to herself, if just a little preoccupied. When lunch was finished everyone moved to the living room while and explained the situation. Lily stared dumbly at the book with a growing sense of apprehension. Finally it was decided that Benjy would read first.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

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Please let me know what you think. Flame away if you must. I am not all that attached to this story but would like to know if you think I am way off on characters and such.


	2. The Boy Who Lived

****Okay so here is the first chapter. I really would like some feedback before I continue. This all belongs to the Queen JK Rowling.

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**The Boy Who Lived **

"Do you think that's Harry?" James asked immediately

"Obviously James, seeing as he lived. Now let Benjy read" Marlene quipped and James stuck out his tongue.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. **

"Oh please tell me he is not with Vermin and Tuney." Lily groaned

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

"Charming" Dorcas remarked

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"There is nothing wrong with—

Jamesie and Lilykins!" Gideon and Fabian yelled at the book.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. **

"Like they would want to be like you rude, boring sods." Benjy growled glowering at the book in his hand.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"With the way you pamper Vernon now, I have a feeling we won't want our son being around your brat of a child." Lily commented scathingly

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

"Most boring tie?" Fabian questioned

"THE HORROR!" Gideon yelled laughing when everyone jumped.

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Good call on the brat thing Lily." Marlene remarked drily

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Why is an owl flying to their house? You never sent your letters that way did you Lily?" James asked and when Lily shook her head Benjy continued.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Brat!" Dorcas spat.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

"Don't encourage him!" James and Lily exclaimed together.

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map.**

"Minnie!" Exclaimed James smiling

"What would Minnie be doing there?" Gideon asked

"There is no way it is her." Fabian responded.

"I don't know what she is doing there but I know it is her. Care to make a friendly wager boys?" James asked, "What do you say to ten gallons?"

"Deal!" the twins exclaimed together.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs."**

"Minnie can!" James exclaimed

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"They're not being very discreet." Lily said frowning.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it.**

"Wow they really do anything to not believe in us don't they?" questioned Benjy

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"What are drills?" Marlene asked and Lily explained them to the group.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"What is with all the pointing?" Fabian asked

"Muggles rarely see owls. They are normally nocturnal." James replied and everyone but Lily stared at him incredulously. "What I actually listened in Muggle Studies."

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"Pleasant chap that one is." Marlene remarked

"You have no idea." Said Lily sadly and James nodded in agreement.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Like that will help." Scoffed Gideon

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"**

**" — yes, their son, Harry —"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"And that is different how exactly?" Marlene asked

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.**

"Wow" The group said in unison.

"How can you not even know your nephew's name?" Dorcas gasped

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if he'd had a sister like that**

"Like what exactly? There is nothing wrong with Lily you fat walrus!" Marlene yelled then blushed when everyone was staring. "What I don't like it when people talk bad about Lily."

…**but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!**

"What?!" The group yelled

"He's gone? Really gone?" Lily asked and everyone shrugged.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"His arms fit?" Benjy asked and the group chuckled.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"Of course not because you want to be completely and utterly boring!" Gideon and Fabian said vehemently

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"It has to be McGonagall!" James said delighted glancing at everyone who was rolling their eyes at him. "Oh come on. Lils you have to agree. Do you know any other cats that can give stern looks?"

"You are probably right James." Lily chuckled

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

"Brat!" Marlene growled

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! **

"That's probably Dedalus Diggle." Benjy commented, "He always had a flair for that when he was in school with my dad."

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"If he is piecing it together then that means others could too." Dorcas worried.

"No Doe, very few muggles will be able to. He has prior knowledge of our world remember." Lily replied soothingly

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. **

**"Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

"Her crowd…really you can't even say it?" James asked dryly

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Harry is a wonderful name." The girls cooed

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Neither could we." James and Lily said together

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Dun, Dun, Dun." Fabian said dramatically

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"McGonagall!" James and Lily exclaimed together smiling broadly.

"NOO!" The twins whined

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"I officially want a one of those thingys." James said seriously

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"YAY!" cheered James, "Pay up!"

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. **

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news."**

"What is everyone celebrating?" Dorcas wondered

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"Told you." Benjy replied

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"I think I know what they are celebrating." Marlene said sadly

"What?" the group asked

"I think they are celebrating the night you died. I think that was the night that Voldemort disappeared." She replied quietly and Benjy began reading again somberly

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

The whole group shared a chuckle at that. They were well aware of his strange affinity for muggle sweets.

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice.**

**"It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." **

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. **

**"But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only because he is too noble to use them." James and Lily said simultaneously

**Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

"Oh, look" Gideon said

"how cute!" Fabian finished

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

The whole group laughed loudly.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now.**

"I hate that stare. After seven years it still made me want to confess everything." James said shuddering

"We hear ya mate." The twins replied

**It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"Smart man best not to look her in the eye when she stares at you like that." Fabian remarked

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.**

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."**

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"You were right Marlene." Lily said crying softly

**"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"I didn't know she would be that upset. About Lily, yeah she was everyone's favorite student, but I caused her more than her fair share of trouble." James softly stated.

"James you, Sirius and Remus were her favorites too. You may have stressed her out beyond compare and made her quite angry at times, but she was always hiding a smile at you antics. She liked you all just as much as she liked me. She had a special soft spot for you." Lily replied sternly and James smiled at her.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

"No" the girls gasped

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"MY SON IS AWESOME!" James yelled, "I mean our son is awesome." He corrected after a glance at Lily.

**"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"I bet he knows." Benjy said skeptically

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"NOO" Groaned the group

"Why isn't he living with Padfoot?" James groaned

**"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"Brat!" the twins said

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter? You expect to tell them everything in a letter? Petunia will hate him, he was already showing signs of magic before that night. You mean to tell me he has to live with my sister who will hate him." Lily moaned in anguish

"Maybe it won't be that bad Lils. He is just a kid maybe she will be good to him." James placated

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"It does make some sense." Dorcas said softly

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"He better not have my son under his cloak." Lily growled

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it —wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I trust Hagrid with my life." The group said together

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Sirius' bike?" Lily questioned then sighed, "He must have gone off and done something reckless after we died. It probably got him put in Azkaban or killed and that is why he isn't there for Harry. Remember how he was after Marlene died? It took three months to convince him to stop going on suicide missions. I mean if it wasn't for Harry we probably wouldn't have been able to get him to stop."

"You are probably right Lils." James agreed sadly.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"I wish you weren't right Lils, but it seems like you are." Marlene said

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"They left my son sitting on the doorstep?" Lily shrieked

* * *

Please let me know what you think. If I get a decent following I will do all of the books. I really enjoy these because they are lighthearted and easy.


	3. Vanishing Glass

****Again I don't own I am just writing for my enjoyment.

* * *

**The Vanishing Glass**

"I wonder what that means." Gideon asked

"If you would let me read we could find out." Dorcas said. Gideon blushed and motioned for her to continue.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Maybe Padfoot or Moony came and got him." James said hopefully

**Yet Harry Potter was still there,**

"No such luck mate sorry." Fabian said and James glared

**asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

"What a pleasant way to wake up." Benjy remarked.

"Yeah it's the best." Lily replied sarcastically

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Wow he has a really good memory. He must be pretty perceptive too." Dorcas remarked then continued reading.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"They make him cook. He is ten for Merlin's sake." Marlene said

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"They make my son sleep in a CUPBOARD!" Lily screeched and James glared at the book darkly.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"What does that fat git want a racing bike for?" Benjy growled.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"That had better not mean Harry. That fat git better not touch my son." James hissed

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"I suppose that is something." Lily said sadly. Things did not look good for her son.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"Sorry Harry but—

that has nothing—

to do with it. Your dad was a –

specky, scrawny git too." Gideon, Fabian, Benjy, and Marlene said together.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.**

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

"A car crash!" The group spluttered indignantly

**"And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

"How in the name of Merlin's saggy y-fronts is he supposed to learn then?" Benjy asked incredulously.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"It's no good son, I've tried." James said cheekily

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

"Well it's good to see that he has James's sense of humor. He'd be really lucky if he got Lily's cheek though." Marlene remarked

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Spoiled brat!" James hissed

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"Brat!" Lily said sadly

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"Oh sweet Merlin, Morgana, and Agrippa, the boy can't even add." Dorcas gasped

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

**"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"Don't encourage him!" the whole group yelled.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He has a name." Lily and Marlene growled

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"Poor kid." Gideon said

"What? He doesn't like cats." Fabian said when he noticed everyone staring at his twin.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU PETUNIA!" Lily yelled

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"He won't blow up the house." said James

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

James blinked owlishly for a few seconds the broke into a wide grin.

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Brat." The group remarked out of habit.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him."**

"Dinky Duddydums!" the twins grinned evilly

**"I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

"Prat." Lily spat

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Git" Marlene growled

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"It was an accident Petunia. You should know that." Lily yelled at the book.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"That's ghastly." Dorcas said

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"How did he do that?" James asked

"He may have flew." Lily said softly, "I have done it before when I was younger."

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. **

"He seems to really love Harry." Marlene said sarcastically

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Bad move Harry." Benjy said sadly, "I see you got your father's inability to keep quiet."

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"Git" Gideon said

"Prat" Fabian mimicked

**"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"He really does have James's sense of humor." Lily said laughing.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

"Good thinking Harry" Marlene said kindly

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Dun, dun, dun" Gideon intoned

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.** **It winked.**

"That's weird." James said

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time."**

"James why does our son have any idea what that snake is thinking?"

"I don't know Lils. I don't know." James replied

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"James why does the snake understand what our son is saying?" Lily asked even more worried

"I still don't know Lils." James replied

"If you two would be quiet and let me read we might be able to find out." Dorcas snapped

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

"Leave our son alone you fat git!" James and Lily yelled.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

"He's pretty powerful if he can make the entire front disappear." Benjy said

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"Great now Harry is going to get in trouble." Marlene growled.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"Ah, a true marauder." James said wistfully

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"He survived the killing curse." James said in awe.

"We already had a pretty good idea of that James. I'm surprised your son can remember that." Marlene said

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

At this Lily, Marlene, and Dorcas began to cry softly.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Maybe the next chapter will be better." Benjy said consolingly

"I'll read!" Marlene yelled.

* * *

Alight do your worst I want to hear anything you have to say.


	4. Letters From No One

****Last chapter I am going to post for right now I have more done but I want to let it sit for a while and hear what everyone thinks first. Still belongs to JKR

* * *

**Letters from No One**

"Hogwarts letters!" the twins yelled together then promptly closed their mouths at a glare from Marlene.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started **

"He better have been allowed to go to school!" Lily exclaimed

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Brat." The boys sighed out of habit.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"That makes so much sense." Benjy stated sarcastically

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"You leave my son alone you fat stupid gits!" James growled.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"James's humor and Lily's cheek this kid is awesome." Marlene said giggling

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's.**

**Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"That was sweet of her." Lily said

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"How does that make any sense?" Benjy sighed

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"Good man Harry." Fabian chuckled.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"As amusing as my son is Tuney will not find that funny." Lily said smiling

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue.**

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"This kid is going to have everyone either laughing or trying to beat him up for his cheek and humor." Dorcas said happily

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

**"Make Harry get it."**

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make Dudley get it."**

"Nice try Harry but I doubt it will work." James said sadly

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — a letter for Harry.**

"Yay!" the group cheered happily ignoring Marlene's glare.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.**

**There was no stamp.**

"What's a stamp?" Gideon asked

"It's how muggles pay to send their mail." James said then seeing everyone except Lily looking at him incredulously again he continued indignantly. "What!? I actually listened in muggle studies."

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"Oh, yes so witty." Benjy said rolling his eyes

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Ugh don't open it in there Harry." Marlene griped

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Shut up you stupid git." Fabian growled

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

"That's something I would want to witness." Gideon chuckled

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"Drama queen" James said darkly

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

"No I think Petunia takes the cake on that one." Lily chuckled at her sister's stupidity.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"Why should he get to read it? It has nothing to do with him." Dorcas said irritably

**"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

"Good boy, stand up for yourself." James said proudly

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"Ah, he is stubborn like his parents." Benjy chuckled then yelped when he got hit by to pillows.

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Oh boy, he got Lily's temper." Dorcas and Marlene said together then had to duck since Lily decided they needed hit with pillows too.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;**

"Come on Harry!" The twins yelled

**Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"Aw man." James, Gideon and Fabian said sadly.

"I highly doubt at ten you could have beaten a boy the size of Dudley." Benjy said diplomatically

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"Dumbledore probably has someone looking after Harry." Dorcas said sagely

**"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Nah we don't care about you boring cruel sods." Gideon said smiling evilly at the book

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"**

"Yeah that will work" Fabian said sarcastically

**"But —"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Stamp out… oh when I get my hands on that fat piece of vermin!" Lily spluttered

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit?" Benjy and James asked together.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"Like Harry will believe that." Dorcas scoffed

**"I have burned it."**

"Git!" The group spat

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

"Gross." Benjy shivered, "I hate spiders."

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"I doubt he smiles to much considering how boring his life is." Marlene mused.

**"Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.**

"Second…second bedroom." Lily whispered

**"Why?" said Harry.**

"Why is he questioning it?" Dorcas asked.

"I bet he doesn't trust the reasons." Benjy remarked

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"That fat git made my son sleep in a cupboard while his spoiled fat son got two bedrooms!" Lily and James yelled. The others motioned for Marlene to continue before the volatile couple got out of hand.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one!"Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"That doesn't sound good." Lily groaned.

"Why not?" James, Gideon, Fabian, and Marlene asked together.

"His father is James and I'm his mother." Lily said simply. Benjy and Dorcas chuckled knowingly but the other four looked at her in confusion. "Well James isn't really a planner. Whenever, James makes the plan it usually goes horribly wrong. It's the same way for me. We are better if we do things more impulsively. We don't get caught as easily when it's impulsive."

"She has a point." Marlene said

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

"Well it appears he got some brains when it comes to sneaking." Benjy said softly

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

**"AAAAARRRGH!"**

"Told you it was going to fail" Lily said sadly. "I was hoping I was wrong."

"Lils, face it when you and James have a feeling about something you are rarely wrong." Marlene said trying to cheer up her best friend.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive!**

"Well at least he got to stand on the fat git." Gideon said happily

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. **

"Even better he got to step on his face." Fabian said cheerily

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"Git!" Dorcas spat

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day.**

**He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"Tuney knows that won't work." Lily said

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"Oh my merlin Lily!" Fabian exclaimed

"What?" She asked warily

"You didn't tell us! How could you keep something so vital from your favorite twins?" Gideon asked

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" Lily asked irritably

"You failed to mention you were a seer." The said together

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"I'm glad I'm not like him." Benjy said seriously

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"Your sister married a weird one." Marlene said giggling.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"That cannot be a good thing." Dorcas said warily

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

Lily burst out giggling wildly and everyone stared at her like she had lost her mind. "Just read I have a feeling I know what is going to happen next." She said breathlessly

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. **

The whole group starting laughing at the predicament

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one**

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"Now he knows how Harry feels." Benjy said unsympathetically

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

**"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"Wow he has lost it." Dorcas said giggling at the image.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

"I would listen to her at least she has some idea of our world." James said. He didn't like where this was going for his son.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

"If that stupid git has it figured out it must be true." Marlene said cruelly

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"Happy Birthday Harry! The group yelled, and then the twins and James started singing happy birthday until they found themselves silenced by the girls. Benjy just chuckled seeing the normally loud boys forced to be quiet by a silencing charm.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Second best birthday for a wizard." Benjy said while the other three boys glared wanting to say something

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.**

"Not a good sign at all." James said after realizing he was a wizard with a wand who could undo the silencing charm.

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain; there was no television in there.**

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

"This isn't going to be good." The twins said sadly

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

"Those are not rations!" The boys exclaimed.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail.**

**Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"Wow way to be a pessimist Harry." Dorcas said

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"Stupid Petunia." Lily muttered angrily

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"Yep, he is a terrible pessimist." Dorcas said laughing when Lily and James glared at her.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"Do it!" The twins exclaimed

— **three… two… one…**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"I wonder who that could be." Marlene questioned.

"I'll read!" Fabian yelled.

* * *

Please review you are all awesome!


	5. Keeper of the Keys

****Thanks to merdarkandtwisty for the review and the advice. Another thanks to GoldenKeeper for your review as well. JKR owns all. Please review.

* * *

**THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS**

"Hagrid!" James yelled

"Once again you don't know that yet." Benjy said

"Would you like to bet on it again?" James asked smugly

"Yeah, how's five gallons sound." Benjy asked confidently

"Five gallons sounds wonderful." James replied winking at Lily.

"You think he would have learned not to bet James. I mean he lost enough money during school." Lily said to Dorcas and Marlene

"Ah, but no matter his smarts this is something he just doesn't learn." Dorcas said giggling

**BOOM. **

"Did you have to yell it Fab?" Marlene groaned

"Yes it is all caps in the book so I have to yell." He replied snootily

"Well we can only hope there isn't a lot of yelling in this chapter." Dorcas said warily

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"I feel that the stupidly part doesn't really need to be there seeing as he is rather stupid and rarely says anything smart." Benjy said simply

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"He brought a rifle to a house with two children! Oh, when I get my hands on that man!" Lily shrieked

"What is a rifle?" Gideon asked intrigued. They all looked at Lily but she was still glaring at the book and mumbling under her breath.

"Um, I think it is some sort of weapon. It flings metal at people to kill them." James said

"Did you not pay attention to that part of muggle studies?" Marlene asked cheekily

"Keep in mind that it was Padfoot and I in that class." James replied. "If it could be used to cause harm they generally skipped over it to not give us ideas."

"That sounds like a very good idea." Dorcas chuckled

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then -**

**SMASH!**

"Dorcas, I think your wish for no yelling is futile. It sounds as though there will be a fair amount." Benjy said sadly

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"That's Hagrid!" James exclaimed delighted, "Pay up Benjy my good man."

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

"Well if the description didn't prove it that just did." Marlene said chuckling

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

"Coward." Fabian mumbled

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Good Hagrid is there now so he will put the Dursleys in their place." Gideon said grinning broadly

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

The boys laughed at his show of cowardice.

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"Hagrid always appears fierce but he is really like a giant teddy bear."

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."**

"I have a feeling that will not be the only time he hears that." Lily said sadly

"Don't be sad Lils." The twins said together while James hugged her close.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"Like that will deter Hagrid." Marlene scoffed

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Well at least that takes care of the gun." Lily remarked

"And he got the description of Dursley down." Marlene said chuckling

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"You mean there is still something of it left after he sat on it." Gideon gasped then chuckled

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"That was sweet of Hagrid." Dorcas said kindly, "What?"

"Well the thing is if you have ever had Hagrid's cooking you would understand." Gideon said grimacing

"It is highly inedible on the best of days." Fabian said looking slightly green

"And downright toxic on the worst" James continued

"It would be better if he bought it for Harry." Lily finished with Marlene shuddering while Dorcas and Benjy chuckled.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Harry James Potter where are your manners." Lily said sternly

"In his defense Lils he meant to say thank you, but you have to admit this is a lot for him to take in. I bet he has never seen a half-giant before." Benjy said wisely. Lily merely raised a red brow to show she was not impressed.

**The giant chuckled.**

"And Hagrid won't care, not like his manners are the greatest." Marlene said smiling into Lily's glare.

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"At least he didn't hug him yet." James chuckled

"Judging by his size it would probably crush him." Gideon agreed.

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"How I miss Hagrid." James said laughing and wiping away and imaginary tear.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. **

"I see Dumbledore allowed him to use magic to get Harry." Lily sighed fondly

**It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. **

"I'm hungry." Gideon groaned and Fabian nodded in agreement.

**Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little.**

"I think it will be alright if you miss a meal you great lump." Marlene bit out

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Oh it's not going to hurt him you close-minded old fool." Dorcas groused

**The giant chuckled darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

"See Hagrid will put them in their place." Fabian said chuckling

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said,**

**"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

"Good boy Harry you found your manners." Lily said

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

"No because his relatives are lying gits." Benjy grumbled

**"Er - no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"It's not your fault Harry it's the fault of those stinking Dursleys." James growled.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"**

"This isn't going to go well." Dorcas sighed

"No it won't. Hagrid is going to be furious to learn that he doesn't know anything about us or the world he belongs in." Lily agreed sadly

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.**

**The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

"Harry won't like that." Marlene said chuckling glancing at her two best friends

"Why not?" Benjy asked sarcastically

"If he is anything at all like James and Lily, and I think we have already discovered that he is, he will not appreciate that statement at all." Marlene said laughing at the twin glares sent her way.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

"Because that is a great accomplishment." Gideon chuckled

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

"The best world where fairies, dragons, giants and most importantly witches and wizards exist." Lily said in a dreamy voice smiling when everyone chuckled

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

"OH, yes the yelling is certainly to a minimum." Dorcas remarked and Fabian just shrugged.

"Just making it a realistic as possible." Fabian said arrogantly

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My - my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"Famous for more than one thing I imagine, but the thing that will always hold them above all others was something we were frequently privy to." Benjy said while everyone stared at him curiously.

"Their fights." He said simply

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

"A Leprechaun?" Gideon asked

"A Flobberworm?" Fabian continued

"A Hungarian Horntail or possibly a Norwegian Ridgeback?" Gideon chuckled

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Oh, like you'll be able to stop him you wrinkly old prune." Dorcas spat

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

"Hagrid would be quite fearsome when he is angry." Marlene shuddered slightly

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"Of course they kept it from him they hated me and would do anything to keep him from becoming a wizard." Lily said sadly

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

The group burst into laughter when Fabian adopted a high squeaky voice for Vernon.

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Drama queen!" Marlene hissed

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yer a wizard."**

"Ah the tact of Rubeus Hagrid is really something isn't it?" Gideon asked happily

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"I'm a - a what?" gasped Harry.**

"I don't think he is going to believe it." James said softly and Lily nodded

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"He really held you two in high regard." Dorcas said smiling at her two friends

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to: **

**Mr. H. Potter, **

**The Floor,**

**Hut-on-the-Rock, **

**The Sea. **

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

"What's a Mugwump?" Lily asked

"You know I don't really know." James said as he glanced around and the others merely shrugged.

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That's the question he asks? Out of all the questions he could ask that is the question he chose?" Benjy asked astounded

"Leave him alone Benjy that was the last thing he read and he is in shock." Dorcas said severely

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl – **

"That poor little owl." Dorcas simpered

**a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**

**Hagrid**

"Great he is nosey like his parents. That bodes well for the school year." Dorcas said sarcastically

"What do you mean?" Benjy asked

"He is going to stick his nose where it doesn't belong." Dorcas said simply.

"With Lily's need to help everyone and James's innate ability to attract trouble the year is not going to be quite I promise." Marlene added

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"It is." Gideon and Fabian said together

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

"Yes we don't want you to catch flies." Dorcas chuckled

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

"Like you are going to be able to stop him." Marlene stated

**Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"It is really frustrating that he should know all this, but because of simple minded people's prejudice he knows nothing about where he belongs." Lily growled

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"No kidding." James said rolling his eyes

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"Stamp it out?" Lily growled menacingly

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

"Of course they knew the fat lying prat!" Gideon exclaimed

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. **

"Did you really do that Lils?" James questioned softly

"Well, maybe once or twice." She replied winking when everyone chuckled

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! **

"It really hurts that she calls me that." Lily sighed

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"She always felt like our parents weren't as proud of her because she wasn't a witch but they really were." Lily sighed wishing things were different with her sister.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. **

"I'm sure she has." James said

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, **

"She liked you fine when she met you until she realized that you were my boyfriend." Lily mumbled

"Yeah and she really took to Sirius until she learned that he was friends with you and also a wizard." James responded chuckling lightly

**and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as – abnormal**

"Harry is not abnormal." James and Lily snapped

**- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"Oh that's a fine way to tell a kid the truth about his parents' deaths you stupid hag." Marlene and Dorcas spat

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"Hagrid is not going to be happy about that." Benjy said

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"It might be better though. I mean he could have ended up as arrogant as James once was." Dorcas said wisely

"Maybe but his entire world shouldn't have been kept from him." Benjy countered

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

"Poor Hagrid." Fabian said sadly

"This just makes the whole not telling him thing worse." Gideon said

"Yeah, he was supposed to know about this already." Benjy agreed sadly

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would have been disastrous. Especially if he really is as famous as Hagrid is saying." Lily said

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

"Good place the blame where it belongs." Marlene said severely

"Well technically it is Voldemort's fault." Lily reminded quietly

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

"Bet Dumbledore knows the whole story." James grumbled and the group nodded

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

"Hagrid has never said Voldemort to my knowledge. I wonder if he says it now." Lily whispered to James

**"Who?"**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"I hope he doesn't teach Harry to be afraid of saying Voldemort." Gideon stated

"It will be a miracle if he gets Hagrid to say it." James responded

"Fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself." Lily quoted

"Alright Dumbledore." Marlene teased

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

"Great descriptive words there Hagrid." Benjy teased gently

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

"He probably can't spell it sadly." Marlene said soberly

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. "Hagrid shuddered. **

"Wow I'm surprised he actually said it." said Benjy

"**Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. **

"All I can think about is how bad the end of our seventh year was." Lily said softly

"Yeah he really started recruiting hard then." Benjy agreed

**Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. **

"Honestly it was worth it." Fabian said quietly

"Yeah it gave people their own courage to stand up to him." Gideon agreed

**One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. **

"He wouldn't ever try not so long as Dumbledore is around." Dorcas said astounded

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... **

"Oh, he tried it just didn't work out so well for him." James said snickering

**probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. **

"No he thought power could persuade anyone to his side. He didn't believe in true loyalty." Lily replied

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

"Poor Hagrid." Gideon said sadly Fabian nodded

"Poor Harry." Fabian added

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

"Hagrid always did wear his emotions on his sleeve." Marlene said trying to diffuse the thick tension in the room.

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find - anyway..." **

"Hagrid was always so sweet." Lily said sadly

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

"He doesn't even know how close we were with everyone." Lily said looking at Marlene and the twins sadly.

"He doesn't know Sirius, Remus or Peter." James added softly

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"I don't like that he can remember that. It does not bode well for his future." Marlene said softly

"What do you mean?" Benjy asked

"I don't really know I'm just worried that it will come back to haunt him." Marlene replied

**Hagrid was watching him sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **

"He better not have touched my son." James growled

**- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion **

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT THEM!" Benjy, Fabian, Gideon, and Marlene yelled

**- asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

"Oh, if I ever meet you it will not be pleasant for you!" Dorcas hissed her eyes narrowed into slits.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "**

"Good job Hagrid." The twins said savagely

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"Too bad he didn't spear him it would have fixed a few problems." Marlene scoffed

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

"I'm surprised it hasn't split in two yet." James laughed

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"No don't be afraid to say his name." James and Lily groaned.

"I don't think he is really." Gideon said

"I think it is more because he knows Hagrid doesn't like it." Fabian added

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?**

"That is an excellent question Hagrid m'boy." Gideon said in a perfect imitation of Dumbledore

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

"Unless he is just too weak to continue the magic." Dorcas said

"I agree I don't think he is really gone." Benjy agreed, "I think he has every intention of coming back."

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

"Why do I get the feeling Harry is going to go all humble." Marlene chuckled

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. **

"Well on the bright side he doesn't have James's big head, but on the down side he probably has Lils self-depreciation." Dorcas said ignoring the glares from the Potters

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"Harry it doesn't work that way. Trust me I wish for your sake it had." James said kindly

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

"Knew he wouldn't believe." James said smugly

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

"This just makes it even worse. Petunia should have told him. She knew it was accidental magic. She grew up with me." Lily said fiercely

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"Technically he didn't set it on his cousin he simply set it free." Benjy said

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"Oh great! I really hope he is more level headed than I was. Please have Lily's humility." James pleaded at the book while the others chuckled.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"Of course not" Marlene sighed

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

"I highly doubt he would be grateful to go to Stonewall." Benjy scoffed

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Uh oh, He shouldn't have insulted Dumbledore." Gideon and Fabian said grinning evilly

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDOREIN- FRONT- OF- ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley**

**- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

"Well it was a nice attempt." James said through his chuckles as the rest of the group clutched their sides in laughter

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

"No there really wasn't." Marlene giggled

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job**

"Way to make him feel wanted." James chuckled

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"No one knows he always changes the subject." Marlene said

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town; get all yer books an' that."**

"And not very well at that." Dorcas chuckled

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

"He keeps the weirdest things in his pockets." Lily said, "I'll read next."


	6. Diagon Alley

****I am terrible at updating and I apologize profusely for my slow updating! On that not I really hope that this lives up!

* * *

**DIAGON ALLEY**

"Yes! Harry gets to go to Diagonally!" Fabian yelled

"We should have been the ones to take him." James said sadly reaching out to Lily.

"I know James but if we can't be there with him we can at least see what he experienced." Lily said softly and began reading.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

"I always hate when I wake up before I really want to but the sun is shining in my eyes." Gideon said randomly

**"It was a dream, he told himself firmly. I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

"Are you sure that's your son?" Marlene teased, "Neither of you are pessimistic…oh wait I how could I forget Lily is the world's worst pessimist!" She chuckled ignoring Lily's death glare

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

"I hope he doesn't continue to be this pessimistic." James sighed

"Well he hasn't really had a whole lot going right for him so far so I don't really blame him for being so pessimistic." Benjy commented

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

**"Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat. **

"It probably just wants paid." Benjy said calmly

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl"**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"See!" Benjy stated smugly followed by a grunt as Dorcas hit him with a pillow.

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

"Hagrid's coats are never anything but pockets." Fabian chuckled

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

**"Knuts?"**

"The little bronze ones silly." Gideon chuckled

"Leave him alone he hasn't had the chance to learn the money system yet you prat." Dorcas reprimanded

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

**"Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

"Why did he make Harry get the money if he was going to get up anyways?" Fabian questioned

"He probably wanted Harry to get a look at the money. He has never seen it before. The sooner he can learn about it the better it will be for his transition." Benjy answered eyeing Dorcas warily

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"Lils his pessimism is all your fault." Marlene grumbled half-heartedly

**"Um - Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"Don't worry Harry money isn't something you will have to worry about." James said kindly smiling at the book.

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

"Oh, Harry" Lily sighed, "Wizards have banks too."

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

"I think his obliviousness comes from James though." Gideon quipped ducking the pillow being thrown his way.

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. "Goblins?"**

"What else would run the banks?" Fabian asked

"Yeah goblins are the best for the job really." Gideon added.

"Well the banks in the muggle world are run by muggles." Lily said

"That doesn't seem very trustworthy. I mean no matter how unpleasant goblins are they take their job very seriously. That's one reason why you would be mad to try and rob Gringotts." Marlene said

"You are probably right Marls, but muggles don't have the luxury of having other magical beings protecting their money." Lily responded smiling

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." **

"Well now Harry will be curious." Dorcas sighed

**Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

"Trust Hagrid with anything and he gets as pleased as a peacock struttin' his stuff." James chuckled

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

"Now that is an odd thought." Benjy chuckled

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

"Harry appears to think so too." Benjy added

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"Oh Hagrid." Dorcas sighed indulgently

"Good he is teaching Harry to bend the rules." The twins chuckled

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"I remember when I first went down I tried to remember the way to our vault." James said smiling, "I didn't get very far before I lost count though."

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"Hagrid wouldn't care." Lily said softly.

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"So nothing really changed." The twins growled

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o ' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, **

"I wonder why that is. He would be a far sight better than anyone else." Benjy mused

"He said something about it once to us do you remember James?" Lily asked

"Yeah, he said something about not trusting himself with the power or some such rot." James replied

**so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. **

"Really…him….there was no one better?" Marlene grumbled

"I have to agree with Marlene. There was no one better?" Dorcas sighed

**Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"Dad said he always did that to him he was a Head and Fudge was a prefect drove dad nuts." James said

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

"I think it is more so we don't have to deal with the prejudice." Benjy corrected

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"That reminds me of the first time we took your parents to meet mine." Lily said giggling and James smiled brightly

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

"He lives in a wooden house what on earth would he want one for!" Dorcas yelled incredulously

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

"The money isn't all that different from ours." James scoffed earning a chuckle from Lily. "What?" He asked

"You were very confused by it the first few times, but you were so determined to get it right it was quite endearing." Lily said chuckling and kissing James on the cheek

"Groooossssss!" The Twins and Marlene exclaimed

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"Last time I saw him knitting it was fuchsia color." Gideon commented

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

**First-year students will require:**

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**Wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set glass or crystal phials telescope set brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"I was kinda hoping they would leave that off." James said dully while Gideon and Fabian nodded in agreement.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

"I have to agree with Hagrid." Gideon said

"We don't know how muggles cope." Fabian continued

"I think we do just fine." Lily replied crossly

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"That's Hagrid for you, you can't help but trust the lovable oaf" Marlene chuckled

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

"You know for being Famous it really doesn't look like much." Lily commented

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

"Of course only they can see it all the magical places that have entrances to the muggle world are invisible to muggles." Benjy stated matter of factly

"Know it all." Gideon and Fabian coughed yelping when Dorcas shot a stinging hex at them.

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. **

"Yeah for being famous it certainly doesn't look like much." Fabian conceded nodding at Lily.

**Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

"I always wanted to try Hagrid's usual but Tom won't let anyone else have any. Says he doesn't want a death on his hands." James murmured

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

"Uh oh" Dorcas whispered

"What?" Lily whispered back

"He just brought attention to Harry and he is probably pretty famous." Dorcas answered softly

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

"He is about to get ambushed." Gideon said proudly

"Why do you say that?" James asked

"Because everyone in the wizarding world is supposed to know his name and he suddenly appears. They are going to want to thank him and all that rot." Fabian responded

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. **

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out.**

**Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

"Told you" Gideon and Fabian said smugly

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

"Diggle is always excited. Dad knows him pretty well and it doesn't take much to get him all dizzy." Explained James

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again –**

**Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

"Doris always loved to meet influential people. I remember when she met my parents for the first time." Chuckled Marlene

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

"Quirrell?" James glanced at Benjy "Does that name sound familiar to you?"

"Yeah I think he might have been a few years ahead of me in Ravenclaw. He was really arrogant." Benjy answered

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

"He didn't have a stutter though." Benjy commented frowning

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. **

"He seems really thrilled about that." Gideon teased

"Hope he is at least a good teacher Harry will need it." Marlene grumbled

"Why do you say that?" Lily worried

"Well, he was the one who defeated Voldyshorts so his followers are probably not too keen on him." Explained Marlene

"You would think that the Ministry would have them all locked up though." James reasoned

"Well most of them yeah, but how many of them lied or paid their way out of it." Marlene responded

"Yeah but they wouldn't attack him would they? I mean that would be suicidal everyone knows him obviously." Dorcas argued

"Yeah but that doesn't mean the next person who wants to follow in that psychos footsteps won't want to take out the only person who defeated the previous Dark Lord." Benjy stated

"We don't know that any of that is going to happen we should just continue and find out what is going on with Harry." Lily stated firmly and continued reading

**"N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." **

**He looked terrified at the very thought. **

"Why is he teaching if he appears terrified of his own subject?" Fabian asked

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. **

"Of course not he is the Famous Harry Potter, Wonder Boy extraordinaire." Gideon crowed to break the tension.

**At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

"Yeah if the Leaky is an unremarkable sight then the actual entrance to Diagon Alley is even worse." James laughed

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

"Great a teacher afraid of his own subject what good will he do?" Benjy griped

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

"He finally gets to see Diagon Alley!" Gideon and Fabian squealed while the other laughed

"**Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

"I wish it had been us." James whispered in Lily's ear for only her to hear.

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"It is a marvelous sight the first time you see it." Dorcas sighed

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. **

"I felt the exact same way." Lily smiled wistfully

"I really wish we were the ones taking him." James said sadly

"Me too" Lily sighed

**A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."**

"Wow a galleon an ounce is kind of ridiculous." Marlene said astounded

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. **

"That reminds me of Rebel and Rogue. Sirius and I got them together our second year." James said grinning at the memory.

"Yes and they were just as troublesome as their owners." Marlene quipped and Lily laughed in agreement.

**Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. **

**"Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -"**

"I want one!" James, Marlene, Gideon, Fabian and Benjy yelled in excitement

"Of course you do." Grumbled Dorcas sharing a look with Lily.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...**

"Alright Harry we get it move on already geez." Fabian teased

"Yeah your first love should be Quidditch not Diagon Alley." Gideon agreed

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

"This should be interesting." Benjy chuckled

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was -**

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. **

"I've been around goblins most of my life they still freak me out." Marlene shuddered

"Only because they caught you trying to lock me in a vault and were always watching you after that." James grumbled

"You tried to stick him in a vault!" Dorcas exclaimed

"Well yeah he was an arrogant little prat. He got me in trouble for something he did so I was going to solve my problem right then and there." Marlene said matter of factly, "If he hadn't squealed like a little girl I would have had him locked in his own vault."

"I DID NOT SQUEAL!" James yelled indignantly

"Yes you did." Marlene said smugly

**The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take, but do not earn,**

**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned, beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

"I have a bad feeling about how many times that has been said in this chapter." Lily said softly

"What you think someone is going to try and rob it?" Marlene scoffed

"Yes" James and Lily responded

"I know it isn't very likely but I think it has been said one too many times to just be a coincidence."

"I'll take that bet Lily." Marlene said, "Five gallons?"

"Deal" Lily said smiling winking at James.

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.**

"I bet it is really hard to be one of the wizards who work for them." Benjy mused quietly, "I'm sure they aren't very kind or accepting of us."

**There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

"It would be very easy for someone to get lost in the atrium alone not to mention how easy it would be once you got underground." Gideon commented.

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"So many pockets, Remus and Peter had to clean them out once for detention." James reminisced

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

"How can they tell just by looking at the key?" Dorcas questioned

"It is a goblin made key. The can tell the whole history just off the key." Benjy supplied

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"Great!" Dorcas and Benjy exclaimed together

"What?" James and Lily asked shocked

"You two are the noisiest people I know." Dorcas said

"Harry will be just as nosey I'm sure. He won't have a choice." Benjy continued

"And Hagrid just peaked his interest." Lily and James groaned together

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

"Hey he led me to the vault the first time I went on my own." James grimaced

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

"It's starting already!" Dorcas groaned

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"You think Hagrid would have learned from you two not to say things like that." Marlene said grinning evilly

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.**

"I love those carts." James said sarcastically

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. **

"He got farther than I did I started second guessing myself pretty quickly." James said proudly

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, **

"Are there really dragons?" Lily asked looking at Marlene and James. Marlene just shrugged and looked at James.

"Yeah there are but the goblins treat it horribly so mum and dad made them move our vaults. They said they didn't care if it wasn't as secure they were not standing for the torture of the poor creature." James said simply

**but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

"How is that going to help him tell them apart?" Benjy chuckled

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

"Wow." Everyone but James and Lily breathed.

"That is just the Inheritance Vault." James said simply, "There are two other vaults."

"We only have two vaults." Marlene said, "The one that holds the money and one that holds heirlooms and such."

"I wonder if Harry knows there are two other vaults?" Lily questioned

"Probably not, but hopefully someone will tell him." James said

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.**

"They wouldn't have been able to get it anyways the only one who can take money from that vault is a Potter." James said simply

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"Something Hagrid and I agree on whole heartedly." Benjy grumbled

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, **

"Harry James Potter you keep your bum in that cart or so help me I will stick it there." Lily yelled

**but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck. Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"Our other vaults are somewhere around there." James commented

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

"Wicked!" The twins exclaimed

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

"Goblins are very creepy." Dorcas shivered

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty. **

"Well that was anti-climactic." Marlene grumbled

**Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"Come on Harry just ask." James groaned

"See nosey." Dorcas chuckled at James's glare.

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"I wonder if he will have any restraint. I know I didn't the first time my parents let me shop on my own." Marlene mused

"I didn't either." James confessed sheepishly

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

"Hagrid why would you leave him alone!" Lily shrieked

"He will be okay Lils." Marlene said softly

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

"What the heck kind of color is mauve?" Gideon scoffed

"It doesn't sound pleasant that's for sure." Fabian chuckled

**"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

"Ooh maybe he will meet a new friend." Lily said hopefully

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

"He sounds like a Malfoy." James said

"You can't know that James." Gideon, Fabian, and Benjy sighed together

"I have to agree with James." Marlene said, "Care to bet on it?"

"Sure." Benjy said

"Fifteen galleons?" Fabian asked

"Sounds good to me." James and Marlene said

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"Okay so maybe he won't make a new friend. I don't really like this boy." Lily said

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"No how can he not know about Quidditch? This is terrible." James moaned dramatically

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"I really don't like this kid." Dorcas said

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"Don't let him make you feel stupid it's not your fault that those terrible relatives of yours didn't say anything to you." Benjy commented

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

"There is nothing wrong with Hufflepuff you foul boy." Lily said indignantly

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"Ice Cream!" The twins yelled hopping up and running to the kitchen to grab some.

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"I have to agree with Dorcas I really don't like this kid." Marlene said stiffly

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second."**

"Sounds like Harry agrees that this kid is a git." James said laughing

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"He is officially a brat little git." Lily grumbled before continuing

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"Why do I have a feeling that Harry is going to get in trouble for his loyalty?" Benjy said, "Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but with James and his reckless nobility and Lily with her unwavering loyalty then add to that their inability to stay out of a fight and not speak their mind this kid is going to have a lot on his plate."

"We can't forget their surplus of bravery that will be something that will get him into trouble too." Marlene added ignore the glares from the couple in question

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

"It doesn't matter who his parents are you foul little cockroach." The twins growled the twins from the kitchen.

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"Can't blame ya there Harry." Benjy agreed

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

"Our kind, our kind I really hope Harry does not become friends with this insufferable kid." James said angrily

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"Do not befriend this little brat Harry." Lily said sternly

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same; they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

"Insufferable little prat." Fabian and Gideon spat as they walked back into the room with bowls of ice-cream for everyone.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"Good he is going to leave and Harry won't have to talk to him anymore." James said smugly

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"I love that kind!" Lily exclaimed and James smiled indulgently

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied. **

"If he is going to get into trouble I hope he inherited how to lie from someone else seeing as you are both pants at it." Marlene stage whispered

"I seem to recall you failing at lying too." James argued back

"Well yeah the only people who were any good at it were Peter and Mary." Lily said softly

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote.**

"I wrote my parents in that they loved it." Lily giggled

**When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pate boy in Madam Malkin's. "-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

"He's an evil little git Harry don't listen to him." James said

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"And she is the perfect example." Gideon said happily

"Why is that?" Lily asked skeptically

"Because she is about as muggle as you can get." Fabian said gravely

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"No it's not it's really simple and you will love it Harry." James said excitedly

"I suppose I don't really have a hope for my son to not be a quidditch fanatic." Lily said wiping away a fake tear while James scowled

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

"Why does everyone give Hufflepuffs such a shallow rep." Lily sighed

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

"There is nothing wrong with that!" Lily and Dorcas shouted indignantly

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"I really wish that he would just say Voldemort. I don't want him to be afraid to say it." James said

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid. **

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. **

"So basically he is in Lily and Remus favorite place in the world." Benjy chuckled

**Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"That is your son talking." Lily and James said pointing at each other the rest in the room simply chuckled at the couple

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

"I don't know Lily used quite a few of those on James in her first year." Marlene said

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), **

"It appears he has his father's restraint when it comes to buying things." Dorcas chuckled

**but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

"Anyone else remember how long it took to shop with Lily when we went to a bookstore or an apothecary?" Dorcas as chuckling at Lily's glare

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to -"**

"Great he is going to be like his parents when it comes to giving him anything." Benjy groaned but Lily and James merely smiled at each other.

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

"I'm glad he is getting an owl. I love cats but owls are a lot more useful at school." Lily said proudly.

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"Oooooh" the girls cooed

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

"This is what I was really looking forward to when I went." Dorcas said and the others agreed.

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. **

"It's not much to look at, but Ollivanders know their wands." James said

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. **

"We got in trouble for spinning each other on that chair remember Fabian." Gideon chuckled

**Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"Wow I am really surprised he can pick that up." Benjy said softly

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

"Ah I loved that chair." Fabian sighed

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

"Yeah Ollivander was always kind of creepy." Marlene said

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." **

**It wasn't a question. **

**"You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

"Is it just me or is it weird that he remembers that?" Lily asked

"It's weird." The group replied

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

"I'm with you on that one son." James said laughing

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

"Psh yeah right and inanimate object chooses the wizard." Benjy scoffed

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. "And that's where..."**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"And Ollivanders creep factor has reached new levels." Marlene said shivering

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

"It got snapped thought didn't it?" Dorcas asked and the group nodded

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

"What use is that?" Benjy questioned rolling his eyes.

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Well that is a dead giveaway that you use something magical that you aren't supposed to." Gideon laughed

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.**

"That tape measure has a mind of its own." James said chuckling

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

"Wand lore was always extremely interesting to me." Dorcas said, "I wished I would have studied it more."

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

"I think he does that on purpose." Marlene remarked

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

"I almost hope he doesn't get it on the first try." James said his eyes sparkling with mischief

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

"I bet you will get your wish." Lily giggled

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"**

**Harry tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

"So grabby" Gideon chuckled

**"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"He always loves a challenge." Fabian said

"Yeah he loves when twins come in. Apparently it is really challenging to find wands for twins." Gideon continued

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple.**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. **

"Gryffindor!" James and the twins yelled

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "**

"Uh oh what's curious?" Lily groaned

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."**

"What!" The girls shrieked in surprise

**Harry swallowed.**

"Well that's not good." Benjy said dryly

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

"It is official Ollivander is very creepy." Lily said with a shudder.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

"That is a lot to digest in just a few days." James agreed

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"I felt that way when I got back from my first trip to the wizarding world." Lily said

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in them Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

"You were special before any of that happened. You were special the day you were born." Lily said softly tears in her eyes.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

"Hogwarts is great Harry." Gideon said

"You'll have fun I'm sure of it." Marlene added

"You'll get into trouble too and it will be great." Fabian finished

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

"He has to go back to the Dursleys." James groaned

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."**

"He didn't even tell him how to get onto the train." Marlene grumbled

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"I'll read next!" Gideon yelled and snatched the book before James could.

"Don't worry mate I bet the chapter after the train is the sorting hat." Fabian said to James laughing at his pouting.

* * *

What did you think? Don't be shy! I love all kinds of reviews! Now I have a favor to ask, am having really terrible writers block on my other story, if you have any ideas for pranks and the like please let me know. I will give you credit in the story and everything.


	7. Journey From Platform 9 34

I'm hoping for three chapters today! I am having lots of fun with this and I hope you are having fun reading it!

* * *

THE** JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS**

"Finally! He is headed to Hogwarts." Dorcas sighed grinning at Lily and a still pouting James

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. **

"No surprises there." Fabian said

**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him - in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.**

"I'm sure it was a bit of an improvement, but it has got to get lonely." Benjy commented

"It does I know because Petunia did it to me all the time." Lily said sadly

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

"I just don't understand why they have to treat Harry that way." Marlene grumbled

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic. His school books were very interesting. **

"Nooooo!" Gideon moaned

"What?" Marlene asked

"He is reading his books before school even starts." Fabian scoffed

"Hey, give my son a break it's not like he is memorizing them. He is probably just interested in the world he is headed to." James said calmly though he looked a bit worried to.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. **

"I wish I was there to see Petunia come in and clean after Harry leaves for school." Lily giggled

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

"I used to do that when Petunia started to get unbearable." Lily sighed

"Sirius did it when he still lived at home. He had to hide it though; if his father saw it he would go through the roof." James said sadly

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, **

"He waited till the last day?" Dorcas said, "Ugh he is going to be a procrastinator like his father."

**so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

"Coward" Benjy chuckled

**"Er - Uncle Vernon?"**

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.**

"Well at least we know if Harry every runs into a troll he is fluent in their language." Fabian teased

**"Er - I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to - to go to Hogwarts."**

**Uncle Vernon grunted again.**

"His conversational skills are astounding." Marlene laughed

**"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"**

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

**"Thank you."**

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.**

**"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"No they were outlawed you idiot." Benjy scoffed

**Harry didn't say anything.**

**"Where is this school, anyway?"**

"Scotland" James answered the book

**"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.**

"Of course he didn't read it before." Muttered Dorcas

**"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared.**

"This isn't going to go well." Benjy sighed

**"Platform what?"**

**"Nine and three-quarters."**

**"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

"You are an insipid fool." Marlene growled

**"It's on my ticket."**

**"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

"Sorry if my son is such an imposition on you." James snapped

**"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

"Well at least Harry has manners even if they are wasted on these fools." Lily said kindly

**"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

"I think they should leave it on. It suits his personality so well." Gideon sneered

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. **

"I honestly think that's all of us on the first day of term our first year." Benjy said as everyone nodded.

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train. **

"Your son seems to be the best of both of you. I was worried common sense may have gone out the window." Marlene teased

**He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.**

"Bet she bribed the little brat." Fabian commented before continuing

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"Just more proof you should never trust kindness from the Dursley's." Dorcas growled

**"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"**

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.**

**"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away.**

"Petunia when I get my hands on you! She knows how to get on to the platform! She went with us my first three years!" Lily yelled shaking with fury

**All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.**

"On the bright side he was raised with muggles so he should know what to say and what not to say." Dorcas said soothingly

**He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. **

"My son is not stupid!" Lily gasped

**Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic.**

"You know they really should have someone there to help out students who don't have someone to show them onto the platform. There are lots of families that don't know how so it would be nice to have someone there." Dorcas commented

**According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

"He must have been a sight." Benjy chuckled

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

"Please don't do that." Groaned James

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"- packed with Muggles, of course -"**

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him - and they had an owl.**

"Molly?" Marlene asked looking at the twins

"Possibly she had five boys and was pregnant when we died." Gideon mused

"Yeah Bill and Charlie would have graduated by now, but Percy would probably be about a fifth year." Fabian explained

"Fred and George would be third years I believe, and that would make the little tyke the same age as Harry." Gideon continued

"It's probably her." They said together

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

**"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

**"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mum, can't I go... "**

"But Weasleys don't usually have girls it's very rare." Gideon interrupted

"She would be the seventh and Mollybear always said that would be the perfect number. Remember Gideon?" Fabian asked smiling nostalgically

"Yeah and she always wanted a girl; even knowing that it was unlikely for a Weasley." Gideon replied

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

"Didn't you say that Percy was the name of one of her boys?" Benjy asked and the twins nodded

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten.**

**Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"That's always how it happens." Lily laughed

**"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

**"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"**

"It's her!" The twins exclaimed

"How can you tell?" Lily asked smiling

"Those two were playing that game as soon as they could talk. They have been playing pranks since they were three." Gideon explained grinning slyly

"I feel sorry for the prefects." Lily teased knowing that they were probably just as troublesome as the marauders and Gideon and Fabian.

**"Sorry, George, dear."**

**"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?**

"It really is a remarkable bit of magic." Lily commented softly

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. There was nothing else for it.**

**"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

**"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

"I love how he describes people. He is completely honest about it." Marlene said giggling

**"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to -"**

**"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

**"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

"Not the most comforting way to explain that." James laughed softly, "Especially since my wife has gifted him with her pessimism."

**"Er - okay," said Harry.**

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble**

"It appears his pessimism isn't going anywhere any time soon." James grumbled glaring playfully at his wife.

**- leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run - the barrier was coming nearer and nearer - he wouldn't be able to stop - the cart was out of control - he was a foot away - he closed his eyes ready for the crash - It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.**

"Yes he is on the platform!" the group cheered

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

"I always loved being on the platform it was always so full of energy." Lily sighed leaning into James.

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats.**

"God how I miss that. We were so young and innocent." Marlene sighed

**Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat.**

**He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

**"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.**

"Neville? Isn't that Frank and Alice's son?" James asked looking at Lily

"Yeah, I wonder where Frank and Alice are, sounds like he is there with Frank's eccentric mother." Lily responded

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

**"Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

"Eww spider!" Squealed Dorcas

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"Merlin those trunks were the worst." James groaned

"Only because you always forgot to cast a feather-light charm on him." Lily teased sighed

**"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

**"Yes, please," Harry panted.**

"Oh, good we get to meet the twins!" James shouted secretly hoping his son would be a bit of a prankster.

**"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

"I wouldn't trust the twins so easily." Marlene said warily, "Especially since they are directly related to these two bozos."

**"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

**"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

**"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you**

**"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

**"What?" said Harry.**

**"Harry Potter, "chorused the twins.**

**"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."**

"Oh Merlin Harry" Benjy said laughing

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.**

**"Fred? George? Are you there?"**

"The perfect timing only a mother can have." Lily said wistfully

**"Coming, Mum."**

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

"So nosey like his parents" Marlene chuckled

**"Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

"Molly is about to embarrass Ron." The twins joked

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

**"Mum - geroff" He wriggled free.**

**"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

**"Shut up," said Ron.**

**"Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

**"He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.**

**"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"**

"Darn we were hoping he was going to grow out of his prattishness." Fabian sighed

"What do you mean?" Benjy asked

"He likes to be in control. He is going to be one of those prefects that think they are more important than they really are." Gideon said, "That's not to say you prefects aren't important just that he is going to abuse his power."

**"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

"I smell a joke coming on." Lily said looking James, Gideon and Fabian who were grinning broadly

**"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"**

**"Or twice -"**

**"A minute -"**

**"All summer -"**

"Classic" Fabian, Gideon and James said together

**"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

"Being Prefect does fit his name really well." Dorcas teased

**"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

**"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there."**

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.**

**"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"**

**"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

"Oh no she just gave them ideas." Lily, Marlene and Dorcas groaned remembering all the times they accidentally gave the Prewitt Twins and the Marauders ideas.

**"Great idea though, thanks, Mum."**

**"It's not funny. And look after Ron."**

**"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

"I kinda feel bad for Ron I bet his brothers pick on him all the time." Benjy said

**"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

**"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"**

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.**

"Real stealthy son." James chuckled

**"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

"I hope she doesn't let them ambush him on the train." Lily sighed softly

"She won't Molly has a soft spot for hard luck cases." Fabian assured.

**"Who?"**

**"Harry Potter!"**

"Oh boy." Benjy teased

**Harry heard the little girl's voice.**

**"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, eh please..."**

"Cute Harry's got a fan girl." Gideon said chuckling

**"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

"I forgot how much I love your sister." Lily said looking at the twins earnestly

**"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."**

**"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

"Good his manners are noticed by someone." Lily said smugly

**"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

**Their mother suddenly became very stern.**

**"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

"I second Lily's statement your sister is amazing." James said

"She was born to be a mother." The twins said together

**"All right, keep your hair on."**

"Keep your hair on?" Marlene giggled, "That has to be my new favorite saying."

**A whistle sounded.**

**"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

**"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

**"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."**

"I doubt they send her one." Fabian said

"I bet they send someone one." James said

"You are probably right." Lily said before they could make another bet

**"George!"**

**"Only joking, Mum."**

"That's how we were towards Bill and Charlie when Molly came with us to the platform." Gideon chuckled

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

"That is so cute. I wish Harry could have had some siblings for him to be an older brother to." Lily said

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

"It is Harry" Dorcas said solemnly

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.**

**"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry.**

"Maybe now he will make a friend." Lily hoped

**"Everywhere else is full."**

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

"Yes his first friend is going to be with our family." The twins exclaimed

**"Hey, Ron."**

**The twins were back.**

**"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

"Sick, sick, sick." Dorcas muttered

**"Right," mumbled Ron.**

**"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."**

"Short and to the point they are more like Gideon and Fabian than I thought they would be." Benjy teased

**"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

**"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"He reminds me of Sirius." Lily said sadly thinking of how he was left behind

**Harry nodded.**

**"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said**

**Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."**

"Yep, no tact." James agreed chuckling

**He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.**

**"So that's where You-Know-Who**

**"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

**"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"I thought Molly told him not to ask him about it." Dorcas grumbled

"No she told the twins not to ask." Gideon said smiling

"Completely different." Fabian added grinning

**"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

"That is still pretty amazing that he remembers that." Benjy commented

**"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

"A yep he is just like Sirius." Marlene said fondly

**"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

**"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"Why not?" Benjy asked

"He is bitter about being a squib and doesn't talk to any of us. It really hurt Molly when it happened." Fabian said sadly

**"So you must know loads of magic already."**

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

"No they don't care about blood purity." James said he knew he wasn't going to like that kid.

**"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

**"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

"We do to." Lily said sadly

**"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

"I have a feeling that his insecurity in the family is going to come back and bite him in the ass." Marlene said

"Marls language" Lily scolded, "Sorry force of habit."

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

"Sounds like Peter." James chuckled

**"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."**

**Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

"I think I have to agree with Marlene. This insecurity is going to be a bit of a problem in future years." Dorcas sighed

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

"I can't bring myself to be mad at him for being cheered by my son's misfortune, but I am annoyed." Lily stated

**"... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort"**

**Ron gasped.**

"Great one more person who is afraid to say his name." Marlene sighed

**"What?" said Harry.**

**"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"**

"Oh stop making him afraid of saying it." James growled

**"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

"You won't be." Marlene said

"Not with your parents being top of the class all seven years." Benjy added

**"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

"Like little Lilyflower." Gideon and Fabian teased

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London.**

**Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

"Well at least our son knows how to be quiet." Lily teased James

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

"Harry's first time trying wizard sweets." Dorcas gushed

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. **

"Only thing Molly can't do is make sandwiches." Fabian shuddered

**Harry went out into the corridor.**

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry – **

"What on earth are Mars Bars?" Gideon said astounded

"Muggle sweet they aren't too bad really." James mused

**but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.**

"Well it appears he is a bottomless pit like his father and Godfather." Lily and Marlene chuckled

"Hey, what about Remus?" James groused

"Well he has the whole werewolf factor in that." Lily responded and kissed James lightly on the lips.

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

**"Hungry, are you?"**

**"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

"Harry James you better share that stuff you brought in." Lily scolded

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."**

"She always forgets no one likes corned beef." Fabian and Gideon said together.

**"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on -"**

"Good boy." Lily said proudly

**"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

"I think he really cares for his family, he just lacks the filter of what to say." Benjy mused

**"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

"They will be best friends now." James said matter-of-factly

"How do you know?" Dorcas questioned

"It was how Sirius and I bonded." He said winking

**"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

"I felt the same way when I first saw those." Lily said giggling

"I did too and I was lots younger than you when I had my first one." Marlene agreed.

**"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

**"What?"**

**"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

"I have like a million of those." Benjy said

"Too bad you didn't know about this before you could have given them to the boy." Dorcas whispered

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

**"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

"That was the same one I got on my first ever chocolate frog." James said softly

"Me too." Lily said slipping her hand into his

**"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks"**

**Harry turned over his card and read:**

**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**

**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.**

**"He's gone!"**

"Well you can't expect him to stick around all day." Fabian teased

**"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."**

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

**"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

**"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "weird!"**

"It is weird I feel like they are staring at me." Marlene

"You don't feel that way with the ones that actually can?" Dorcas asked laughing

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin.**

"Wow he got some pretty good ones." Benjy said smiling

"Yeah hopefully he keeps up the collection." James agreed

**He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.**

"Best snack ever!" Marlene and Lily said together while the others grimaced

**"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once."**

"Yeah I got that flavor once. They turned me off those for life." Fabian shuddered

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.**

**"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."**

"Yeah not the best one to bite into at first." James chuckled

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end of a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.**

"He didn't do so badly on those either." Gideon chuckled at his brother's expression

"He apparently has Lily's luck when it comes to those nasty treats." James said laughing

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.**

"They are getting closer." Dorcas smiled broadly

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarter came in. He looked tearful.**

**"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

**"He'll turn up," said Harry.**

"Harry got your kindness Lils." James whispered in her ear

**"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."**

**He left.**

**"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

"Yep he is a reincarnation of Sirius at that age." Marlene said chuckling, "Which does not bode well for any girls he comes across for the next year or so." She continued as Lily nodded

"What do you mean Sirius had a gift with the ladies." James said on his friend's behalf

"No he did not." Marlene and Lily said simply

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.**

"That does sound like Peter." James whispered to Lily who nodded

**"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."**

"This is going to be a trick from the twins I bet." Gideon said

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.**

**"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway" He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

"Ooh another friend." Lily said hopefully

**"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

"Bet she is going to be the Remus of the group." Dorcas said looking at James for confirmation

"Probably, but I'm betting they won't be friends right away." James said sadly, "The three of us had a bit of a rocky start but once Rem relaxed a bit and Sirius and I quit being such prats to him we got along alright."

"Alert the authorities James just admitted that he and Sirius were prats." Marlene teased

**"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

"Oh boy he is going to embarrass himself I can tell." Fabian groaned for his nephew

**"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."**

"Bossy little thing isn't she." Benjy teased

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

**"Er - all right."**

**He cleared his throat.**

**"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

"One of the twins gave him that." Fabian said winking a Gideon

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.**

**"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you."**

**She said all this very fast.**

"I'm betting just before Christmas break." Benjy said, "That's when they will become friends."

"Nope I'm going with closer to Halloween." Lily said, "Five galleons?"

"Deal!" Benjy said as the shook

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

"All the course books by heart!" James exclaimed, "Even Moony wasn't that bad."

**"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

**"Harry Potter," said Harry.**

**"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."**

"Wow no wonder he is famous his in History books." Dorcas gasped

**"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

**"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

"I think she wants to be their friend but doesn't really know how to go about it." Dorcas said sadly

"Yeah I don't think her and Ron are going to get along at first." Lily agreed

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.**

**"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

"Told you" Fabian said chuckling

"I bet they are in the same house." Marlene said chuckling

"I'll take that bet." Dorcas said, "Three galleons say she's in Ravenclaw and he's in Gryffindor."

"Done, the will both be in Gryffindor." Marlene said grinning

"We have so many bets going on right now." Gideon said chuckling

"We have break into Gringotts, Malfoy, when they will become friends and this last one." I do believe there will be a lot of money changing hands." Fabian said

**"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

**"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

"He won't be in either of those. Not to say he is stupid but he isn't Ravenclaw smart and he doesn't seem to cunning though he may be a little ambitious." Dorcas said

**"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

"I wish he would just say his name." Lily sighed

"I'm sure he will eventually he is just trying to fit in right now." Marlene assured

**"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

**"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"**

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

**"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," **

"Charlie always did like animals. The fiercer the better." Fabian said proudly

**said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

"Yes! I told you Marly!" Lily said dancing a jig and Marlene grudgingly handed over five galleons.

**Harry stared.**

**"Really? What happened to them?"**

**"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

"Isn't he supposed to be gone?" Lily asked worriedly

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.**

"I wish he would just say it." James said

"We know James." The others said irritably

**"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

**"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed.**

**"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. **

"Good at least now he will understand the game he is destined to be great at." James said happily

**He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

"Ugh I don't think I'm going to like this encounter." Lily said

"On the bright side we get to find out if James and I are right." Marlene said cheerfully

**"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

"Now you want to be all buddy buddy about it." James grumbled

**"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

"Crabbe and Goyle were Lucius lackeys weren't they?" Benjy asked worriedly

**"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"Ha! Pay up!" James cheered as the Galleons were handed over to him and Marlene

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

**"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

"Yeah I really don't like that git." Benjy growled

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."**

"Harry James Potter you better not become friends with that terrible boy." Lily said sternly

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

**"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

"That's my boy." James said happily, "Don't listen to those egotistical prats."

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.**

**"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

"How dare you say things like that about James and Lily!" Marlene spat angrily

"If I could get my hands on that evil little gross boy." Dorcas screeched

**Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

**"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

**"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.**

**"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

"And enter his parents' reckless bravery." Benjy commented

**"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." **

"It isn't for you, you evil little boy." Dorcas gritted out through her teeth.

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

"Oh boy here comes the fight." Lily groaned

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle –**

"Go Scabbers!" The twins yelled

**Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. **

"Pansies!" James scoffed

**Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"This won't go well on the friendship front." Dorcas sighed

**"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep-"**

**And so he had.**

**"You've met Malfoy before?"**

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

**"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." **

"They didn't" growled James with is fist clenched

"Wonder how they got out of Azkaban." Lily mused

"Paid they're way with money and dishing out on Voldemort's secrets." James said through clenched teeth

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

**"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"Still think it will be around Halloween?" Benjy asked smugly

"Yeah I do." Lily said not rising to the bait

**"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

"There is going to be some fire between those two." Gideon chuckled

**"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"I have a feeling that even when Ron and Hermione become friends they are going to be going at it like cats and dogs." James said chuckling

"Oh you mean like you and Lily." Marlene said sweetly ignoring the twin glares coming from the Potters.

"No more like you and Sirius." Lily quipped back

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.**

"Poor Ron that has got to be embarrassing." Fabian chuckled

"He sounds like he is just as awkward as Sirius could be sometimes." Marlene agreed

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."**

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.**

"Getting off the train is always such a pain." Lily said grumpily

"You just didn't like it because you always ended up getting ambushed by the twins or the marauders. Somehow you always managed to make it to a carriage without walking a single step." Dorcas said chuckling

"First year I made it to the boats walking." Lily said primly

"Only 'cuz you were friends with Snivellus." Benjy countered

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"**

"Oh good they still have Hagrid doing it at least Harry will have a familiar face." James said.

"Hagrid was always good at welcoming the First Years." Lily agreed

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

**"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"**

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"I wonder if he ever becomes just Neville." Benjy said chuckling

"If it is Alice and Frank's son I hope they become friends." Lily said

**"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."**

"This is the best part." Dorcas sighed

**There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.**

**"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. **

"Bet Ronnie just loves that." Gideon said chuckling

**"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"**

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

"It was an amazing sight." Dorcas sighed

**"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

"That was the best and I think it is awesome that when you leave for the last time you go off in the boats again." Lily said resting her head on James shoulder

**"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

**"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

"Oh good he found his toad." Dorcas said happily

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.**

**"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"**

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"I wonder if it is still McGonagall who fetches them?" Fabian asked

"I bet it is but we will find out soon because it is finally James' turn to read." Gideon said chuckling

* * *

Please Review! I love hearing from all of you!


	8. Sorting Hat

I had a hard time with this chapter and I don't really know why. Please let me know what you think.

* * *

**THE SORTING HAT**

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Hey, maybe he will be like Lily and stay on her good side." Dorcas said chuckling

"I really doubt it." Lily said skeptically, "I have a feeling he will cross her just as many times as his father and godfather."

**"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

**"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

"I can't believe he is finally at Hogwarts." Lily said giddily

"He had a hard enough time getting to this point I hope the rest of his year is simple." Dorcas sighed as the others nodded.

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

"All of Hogwarts is pretty magnificent." Benjy said

"Yeah you can feel all the magical energy the moment you set foot there." Marlene agreed

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

"I had no idea what to expect" Lily said softly chuckling at how nervous she had been

"I didn't really either. Dad refused to tell me. Said it was a tradition for us to find out on our own what happens." James said rolling his eyes

"Mum told me what to expect when I went." Benjy said shrugging

"Molly told us and then felt so bad afterward she bought us treats." Fabian said smiling fondly

"Yeah she begged us not to tell mum and dad." Gideon chuckled

"Dad told me, he said I had to be prepared because McKinnons' are always prepared." Marlene scoffed

"I knew because Marlene told me." Dorcas whispered, "I was freaking out and she took pity on me."

**"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."**

"Something like your family?" Marlene scoffed, "They are your family."

"Lifelong friends doesn't even come close to what you feel for those people when you get out of there." Dorcas agreed.

**"The four houses are called Gryffindor, **

Loud cheering from Gideon, Fabian, Marlene, James and Lily

**Hufflepuff, **

"Yeah! Go Badgers." Dorcas yells then blushes deeply

**Ravenclaw, **

"Yeah! Smartest of the LOT!" Benjy hollers

"Who was top of the class?" Lily asks sweetly smirking when Benjy glares

**and Slytherin. **

"BOOOOO!" Marlene, Fabian, Gideon, James and Benjy groan

**Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. **

"Unless you happen to be James or Lily" Benjy scoffs

"Or Sirius" Dorcas adds

"Or Remus" Fabian continues

"And let's not forget Marlene." Gideon finishes laughing at the scathing looks sent their way.

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.**

"And make sure to continue the tradition of keeping Slytherin from getting the house cup." James says smugly

"Let's not forget the quidditch cup to oh capitain." Marlene adds saluting

**"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."**

"I think that is what made me nervous. What are you going to do make us take a test." Lily said gripping her face frantically then bursting into giggles.

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"It really is no use son." James chuckled running his hand through his hair.

"Believe me I have tried." Lily groans smiling at James affronted look.

"I was under the impression that you loved my hair." James scoffs

"And I was under the impression that you were intelligent." Lily teased back kissing James's cheek and ruffling his hair to show him she is teasing.

**"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."**

"Wow I don't think her speech has changed at all." Marlene said happily

"Course not creature of habit ole Minnie is." Gideon chuckled

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.**

**"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron. "Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."**

"Oh yes make yourself even more nervous why don't you." Benjy teased fondly

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived.**

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Fabian shouted and the others jumped staring at him incredulously, "What I was missing Moody for a bit there."

**He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her. **

"Can't really blame ya there mate." The twins said together

**He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. **

"That is priceless." Gideon said laughing

"That's my boy." James said proudly

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

"Oi, again with the pessimism!" Fabian exclaimed

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.**

"Ghosts." Dorcas said smiling

**"What the -?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"**

**"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? **

"Of course they are arguing about Peeves. They are always arguing about him." James commented.

**He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"**

"As if they don't know." Benjy said chuckling

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.**

**"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"**

**A few people nodded mutely. **

**"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

"The Friar was always nice if a little eccentric." Dorcas said fondly

**"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

"Can't believe they still act like they don't know the sorting is going on." Marlene sighed with a roll of her eyes.

**"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

"AHHH my baby is about to be sorted!" Lily burst out blushing slightly, "Sorry I couldn't contain myself."

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.**

"Is it sad that all I was thinking about was how to use those candles in a prank?" James asked the group

"Yes." Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and Benjy replied

"NO." Gideon and Fabian shouted at the same time

**These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.**

**The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. **

"The Great Hall is pretty great during the Welcome Feast." Dorcas said sighing

"The Great Hall is amazing at Halloween though." Benjy reminded

"And Christmas, it is stunning at Christmas." Lily sighed

**He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."**

"Has she memorized every book?" The twins gasped together

"It appears that way." Lily said feeling a kindred spirit with the young muggle-born.

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. **

"Psh the moment she found out it was magical she would have burned it then vacuumed up the ashes." Lily snorted

**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, **

"A rabbit?" The twins asked

"Muggle thing." Lily said waving her hand dismissively. She didn't want to explain it.

**Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing: **

"You better sing it James." The twins said threateningly

**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**

**But don't judge on what you see,**

**I'll eat myself if you can find**

**A smarter hat than me.**

**You can keep your bowlers black,**

**Your top hats sleek and tall,**

**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**

**And I can cap them all.**

**There's nothing hidden in your head**

**The Sorting Hat can't see,**

**So try me on and I will tell you**

**Where you ought to be.**

**You might belong in Gryffindor,**

**Where dwell the brave at heart,**

**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;**

"WHOO!" The twins interrupted

**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**

**Where they are just and loyal,**

**Those patient Hufflepuffs are true **

**And unafraid of toil;**

"WHOO!" Then twins yelled again

**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**

**if you've a ready mind,**

**Where those of wit and learning,**

**Will always find their kind;**

"WHOO!" The twins interrupted a third time

**Or perhaps in Slytherin**

**You'll make your real friends,**

**Those cunning folk use any means**

**To achieve their ends.**

"BOOO!" The twins yelled again

**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**

**And don't get in a flap!**

**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**

**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. **

"Well it isn't as dismal as the ones we were hearing." Marlene said happily

"No kidding ours were downright depressing." Dorcas ageed

**"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

"Yep Sirius said something similar. He said he thought that we had to battle a Manticore." James said laughing his best friend's naivety

"You didn't correct him?" Lily asked smiling

"Course not, I didn't know either." James said

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

"I think most everyone would be in that house." Benjy said laughing

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

**"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"**

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause -**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

"WHOO! Yeah!" Dorcas cheered as the others laughed and clapped along.

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.**

**"Bones, Susan!"**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

"WHOO! Yeah! That's two!" Dorcas cheered again

**"Boot, Terry!"**

**"RAVENCLAW!"**

"Yeah! Go Ravenclaw!" Benjy hollered

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. **

**" Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, **

"Two to Ravenclaw, Two to Hufflepuff, zip to Gryffindor!" Benjy and Dorcas cheered

**but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, **

"YES! GO GRYFFINDOR!" The rest of the group hollered

**and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

"You know what I just realized?" Gideon asked

"No what?" The group replied

"That Fred and George have the same age difference between Harry, Ron and their group that was between Gid and me and your group." Fabian answered

**"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. **

"It's not. They are unpleasant." The twins said solemnly

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school.**

"Okay even I have to agree my son needs to get over his pessimism." Lily sighed

**He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.**

**"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"**

"What an unfortunate last name." Marlene teased

**"HUFFLEPUFF!"**

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.**

**"Granger, Hermione!"**

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

"Of course she did." The twins said rolling their eyes

**"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.**

Marlene glanced at Dorcas smiling smugly. Dorcas crossed her arms and pouted.

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?**

"Okay you can't blame that all on me. I may be pessimistic at times but I'm never that bad." Lily said exasperatedly

**When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag." Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

"Git." James grumbled

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"**

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

"Of course everyone is whisper about him he is a Potter." James said smugly ignoring the pillows flying his way

**"Potter, did she say?"**

"**The Harry Potter?"**

"Someone is popular." Benjy said smirking

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

**Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"**

"What do you mean where shall I put you? He is my son Gryffindor." James said looking slightly worried.

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.**

**"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!"**

There was a moment of silence after James yelled where Harry was placed. The looked at each other in disbelief; the hat considered putting him in Slytherin?

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" **

"Didn't you two do something along those lines when Marlene, Sirius and James were put in Gryffindor?" Lily asked the twins giggling when they thrust their chest out proudly

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

"Ugh I hate that." Lily and James said together

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

"Huh I wonder when he got that." Benjy mused glancing significantly at Lily who nodded in silent understanding.

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.**

**"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

Dorcas sighed despondently and handed Marlene her winnings.

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

**"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley Pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.**

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.**

"It always does." James and the twins sighed

"You men always think with your stomachs." Lily teased

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

**"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!**

**"Thank you!"**

"I always loved the speech he gave before the meal." James said laughing

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

**"Is he - a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

"Yes" the group said solemnly

**"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"**

**Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.**

"I think we should eat after this chapter." Fabian and Gideon said longingly

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat.**

**It was all delicious. **

**"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak,**

**"Can't you -?"**

**I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

**"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

"He really hates it when people call him that." Dorcas said disapprovingly

**"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.**

**"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"**

"He had to ask." Marlene said shivering as Lily nodded in agreement

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

**"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, **

**"So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost." Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

**"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

"It appears he didn't learn his lesson." Lily said softly

**"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding - **

"Yep, we really need to eat after this chapter." James said

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

**"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

**The others laughed.**

"That is kind of dangerous." Lily said thinking of Severus.

**"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

**"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. **

"You can't be all muggle if you were born with wizard parents." Benjy said indignantly

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but**

**nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. **

"That is horrible!" Dorcas exclaimed

**They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

"I always said Frank's mum was crazy." James said chuckling

"But where are Frank and Alice during all this?" Lily asked extremely upset. She glanced at Dorcas and Marlene to see that they were in similar states.

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-";**

**"You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing - ").**

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.**

"Oh, no!" Lily and James gasped

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.**

"What on Earth?" The boys questioned

**"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

**"What is it?" asked Percy.**

**"N-nothing."**

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.**

"If it is who we think it is he won't." Lily whispered sadly

**"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

**"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."**

"No" James, Lily, Marlene and Dorcas all groaned.

"What?" The others asked surprised

"Severus hated James and he is just going to take it out on Harry." Lily said sadly

"Oh" the other three said softly

**Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again. At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.**

**"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.**

"This speech is never as fun as the one before the Feast." James grumbled

**"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

"I seem to remember him giving the twins and Marauders that same look." Benjy mused

"I knew they were going to take after us." Fabian said wistfully.

**"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. **

**"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.**

**"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."**

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.**

"Great we are going to figure out what that is before the end of the year." Dorcas groaned

"How do you know?" Benjy asked

"His father is James who attracts trouble, and his mother is Lily who can't let a mystery go unsolved." Marlene replied for Dorcas

**"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.**

**"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."**

"See he is a prefect who thinks that the world should bow to him." Gideon said rolling his eyes at his nephew

**"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.**

"I love the school song." James, Gideon, and Fabian smiled

**Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.**

**"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" **

**And the school bellowed:**

**"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**

**Teach us something please,**

**Whether we be old and bald**

**Or young with scabby knees,**

**Our heads could do with filling**

**With some interesting stuff,**

**For now they're bare and full of air,**

**Dead flies and bits of fluff,**

**So teach us things worth knowing,**

**Bring back what we've forgot,**

**just do your best, we'll do the rest,**

**And learn until our brains all rot.**

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

**"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.**

**"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself" **

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.**

**"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

"He is using the Baron already? Amateur." Lily scoffed

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross- legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

**"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

**"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.**

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.**

**"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."**

"That will get annoying if he keeps doing that." Benjy agreed

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

**"Password?" she said. "Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

**" Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.**

**Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it -then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.**

"Well that is an odd dream." James commented slightly shaken

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

* * *

I fizzled at the end and I'm sorry for that. Please review and if you have any requests let me know. Again if you have any ideas for pranks I can use in my other story I would really appreciate it.


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